I thought Lydia would die in the finale (I mean – in episode 16 of season 10). Not because I don’t like the character, but because she’s the closest thing to a daughter for Daryl and Negan, both.
Of course Judith is also on their ward, but she does have / or had a father. Whereas Daryl & Negan, they are both like uncles to Judith.
But their attitude to Lydia is really as for a daughter with whom, for some reason, they were not familiar for years before. So only now they’re building a relationship, and worrying and standing up for her.
I was in fact pleasantly surprised by the move of Lydia’s character into the plot, which put the confrontation between Daryl and Negan to a completely different level, giving it a much deeper sense, – because each one of them can sympathize and understand her case better than others.
It’s kinda like divorced parents: they do pull the effort to get along without communicating with each other, cause of the past sore situations, but, as both care for the best for the child, they won’t hesitate a bit to act together at time of an essence.
While great losses were promised in the finale by the showrunners, and there were many arguments about who will die – mentioning father Gabriel, Magna and a bunch of others, however, I hadn’t heard anyone spoke seriously about losing Lydia.
And indeed, she survived. And I’m glad I was wrong.
But going back, when I was thinking about what’s to happen, it seemed that the whole long-term arch of Negan’s redemption was leading to something stunningly dramatic. By the way of something BIG had to happen, for the community leaders to finally accept Negan as one of their own.
Like his plot with Carol, or some negotiation with Daryl and even his entertaining relationship with Judith – it felt as not enough for Negan to be forgiven and accepted by those around (as well as for me, as a viewer).
It came to be justified that he won’t only be again the savior of a situation, but would also lose something dear to him .. and since Judith and Lydia are the only two that Negan happened to truly care about by now and throughout the series, – yet with Lydia, aside the emotional connection, he also gained a sense of direct responsibility.
Therefore, if she died, it would certainly have a strong impact on Daryl and on Negan, and moreover – on other characters, like Carol.
Lydia was as well the reason why Alpha began to hunt the united communities of the Kingdom, Alexandria and Hilltop, and after the reprisal on the Whisperers’ head (literally;), Lydia became Beta‘s target of vengeance (as because of the girl’s betrayal).
I mean, it doesn’t matter which side you look at it – she is always in the very eye of the storm.
Now, just imagine how tremendously different the attack on Beta by Daryl and Negan would felt if it had Lydia’s lost in the background. Especially if Lydia had died trying to save Beatrice, due to the mistrust shown by the women of Oceanside before.
Same about Carol on the cliff – if it was Negan who stopped her, and not Lydia, the scene would be quiet spectacular. It could gave rise to a remarkable dialogue between Carol and Negan, like, no matter how hard they try, no matter how they do it, innocent still die ..
and boom – Lydia and Henry like Romeo and Juliet TWD 💥
Anyway, nothing of that happened – and maybe it’s because Lydia will have more of the comics’ storyline. In that she survived much longer and is involved in many of what to come.
It’s also possible that her on-show character has not yet fully opened, and so didn’t got quite popular till now. I even heard an opinion that Cassady’s performance wasn’t strong enough – with which I absolutely cannot agree. Seeing her on those multiple videochats, such a shining-sunny-dolly girl, comparing it to the image that she conveys in the series – a withdrawn, lost and depressed teenager, I think that she does just fine.
In conclusion, I will say that my expectations did not fall down, but only increased with the fact that Cassady – Lydia was left on the cast. Although it’s unlikely that we’ll see her in the bonus 6 episodes, but from her role in the final season, which will be released later in October this year, I do expect a lot.
▷ WATCH ON amazon prime video↬ The Walking Dead returns with 6 bonus episodes of the extended 10th season, on 28th February 2021
fan fact: Cassady McClincy has a younger sister – Callie Brook McClincy, and she is also an actress. Callie played young Rebecca on The Originals, among a bunch of other roles♥
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